The council is working with Halton and St Helens Voluntary and Community Action to coordinate support to help to the most vulnerable members of our community and those who need help during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Those in our community who have to self-isolate can find doing the basics like shopping and getting prescriptions problematic. Whilst Trading Standards would always recommend that anyone who is self-isolating seeks help from their existing network, people they already know and trust, we realise this will not always be possible for everyone.
If you need help, you can phone the Council’s new Hotline number: 0151 907 8363.
Because of the changes we have all had to make, some of us will feel lonely and we may feel concerned about the future. This normal and natural response is what scammers will exploit, to take your money or trick you into providing your personal information.
So that we can all stay as safe and well as possible and genuine volunteers can be easily identified, Trading Standards are encouraging all those who want to help people beyond their family, friends and immediate neighbours, to register with Halton and St Helens Voluntary Action. Volunteers will be matched to those needing support. When a volunteer is connected with an individual who needs help, both parties will be given a password that only the resident and volunteer will know. Halton Borough Council and Halton and St Helens Voluntary Action are working together to make sure that residents get the help they need, safely.
There may be genuine volunteers who do not know about this scheme or do not want to register, but who still want to offer support beyond their existing network. Halton Trading Standards is therefore offering a new service.
If you have been contacted by someone that you don’t know with an offer of help, Trading Standards will make contact with the volunteer and ask them to provide their full name and address and this will be checked against the electoral roll. All information given to Trading Standards relating to volunteers will be treated in the strictest confidence. We will never pass the details of the volunteer to the resident and we will never pass the resident’s details to the volunteer. If you want to make an enquiry about somebody who has offered help, please call Anthony on 0151 511 8477.
If you are a volunteer and you receive a call from Trading Standards, please don’t be offended: your offer of help is very much appreciated and your support vital, but please understand that we know scammers are already exploiting the situation and so we need to make this check to protect those who are in most need of help.